Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am glad the Taoiseach has stated he will support the reappointment of President Barroso as President of the Commission. At present, he appears to be the only candidate from the EPP group at least. Moreover, while the leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, Mr. Cameron, may decide to remove his Conservative Party from the EPP, he indicated to me that in the event of that party either forming or associating itself with another centre-right group, there still would be willingness to support Mr. Barroso. I welcome the Council meeting's focus on the economic crisis. Following from that focus, the next Council meeting should concentrate on the Lisbon Agenda, the original intention of which was that Europe should be able to compete with and match job provision and creation in, the United States. Europe fell down on that, it never happened and the impetus should be on this issue for the next Council meeting.

I welcome the support that is being made available from the Union, through the European Central Bank, for different countries. However, there is a need for much stronger recognition of solidarity within the Union for whatever decisions any country takes to protect its own banking and financial systems and so on. While it is fine to have the ECB as a central core, there must be visible support from the Union for whatever decisions are taken within each individual country. One does not wish to see the individual growth of so-called economic nationalism.

I hope the G20 summit meeting in London this week will produce something tangible. I welcome President Sarkozy's statement that he hopes some common ground can be found this week. There was a measure of criticism of the Americans within Europe at the margins of the Council Meeting, pertaining to the pressure exerted by America to the effect that Europe should match American funds in this regard. No less a person than President Barroso himself pointed out that after six months in the United States, a car worker who has been made unemployed will be in receipt of food vouchers. The difference between the United States and Europe is very deep in this regard.

The Taoiseach attended the meeting of the European liberal party leaders in advance of the European Council, which is a matter for the Fianna Fáil Party itself. If Fianna Fáil decides to join the liberal group or if the Taoiseach has decided to so do, he will have an opportunity to use his position as one of the few heads of Government within that group. Given the potential that exists in Ireland as an outstanding location for the production of food of the highest quality, the growth in world population and the clear requirements that exist for further food production, the Taoiseach should try to address the liberal group's view in respect of the Common Agricultural Policy. Its view differs greatly from ours in this regard and I am sure the Taoiseach will be able to use his undoubted strength and influence in this regard.

I welcome the making available of €110 million for the interconnector, which is very important. However, potentially there are a number of other projects in Ireland that could be put into line for approval in this regard. For example, I refer to Ireland's capacity for pumped storage, whereby wind turbines would drive water up mountains from lakes or the sea that then is used to generate power coming back down again. While a major investment programme would be required, from my experience of international power corporations looking at locations in Ireland, some of the projects envisaged could provide half the needs of the country. I welcome the Libertas organisation's decision to contest the European elections in Ireland. These elections cannot be turned into a proxy referendum because we will vote again on the Lisbon treaty. Deputies Timmins and Creighton will deal with this issue. However, I am concerned about the manner in which this organisation has gone about registering itself as a European party. This issue must be addressed. My concern becomes greater on learning that the founder of the organisation has agreed personally to pay back the loans of the Libertas organisation in Poland, contrary to Polish electoral law. I am further concerned that the Libertas organisation has stated that it will produce all evidence regarding expenditure for the future and that it will bring forward proposals in this regard. It first should comply with the SIPO regulations in Ireland and have its obligations in this regard above board before going on to proffer suggestions and solutions for everyone else.

I look forward to the Lisbon treaty referendum in the autumn and welcome that the IFA recently signalled, through its retiring general secretary, that the farm organisation would wholeheartedly back the treaty the next time. It is a pity that many organisations did not do so in the past. The Taoiseach should deal in sequential order with all the issues that were of concern but that were not relevant to the Lisbon treaty. He can rest assured that the Fine Gael Party will campaign openly, strongly and forcefully for its ratification. It is necessary to the futures of all in the new, expanded Europe.

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